The LDDS in France: deposit cap, interest rate and rules in 2026

• A €12,000 cap, interest not included. Once the balance reaches €12,000, no further deposits are accepted, but interest keeps being added every December 31.
• 1.7% net since August 1, 2026, until at least January 31, 2027. The rate is the same at every bank and always follows the Livret A.
• A full LDDS earns €204 over a whole year at 1.7%. With prices up 3.4% year on year in October 2026, it is a safety buffer, not a way to grow money.
• Dates matter. Interest runs by half-month: a deposit made on the 15th earns one more half-month than the same deposit made on the 16th.

The LDDS is France's second most popular savings account after the Livret A. At the end of 2025, the Banque de France counted 27 million of them, held by 48.5% of adults, with €165 billion on deposit and an average balance of €6,174. More than 8 million were at the cap, 31% of all accounts, and they held 65% of the money.

This guide covers what you need to use it well if you live in France or pay tax there: the cap and what it really counts, the rate and its formula, the half-month interest rule, tax, the solidarity donations, and the question that comes up as soon as the account is full: where the next euro should go. The rules are those in force in November 2026, with their sources.

LDD or LDDS: one account, two names

LDD and LDDS are the same product. The livret de développement durable was created in 2007 from the old Codevi, and the Sapin 2 law of December 2016 added the word solidaire, together with the option of donating part of your savings to the social and solidarity economy. Many savers, and plenty of banks, still say LDD. The cap, the rate and the rules are identical: an LDD cap is an LDDS cap.

It is a regulated savings account: the French state sets its rate, cap and tax treatment, and no bank can change them. That is what separates it from ordinary bank savings accounts, whose rate the bank sets freely and whose interest is taxed.

The LDDS cap: €12,000 per person

The LDDS cap is €12,000, according to service-public.fr, the French government's official guide. It was doubled on October 1, 2012, from €6,000 to €12,000, and has not moved since. It is a cap on deposits: it counts the money you put in, not the interest the account pays you.

Interest is added to the account on December 31 each year and can push the balance above €12,000. The rule is simple: as long as the balance is below the cap, you can deposit up to it; once it reaches or exceeds the cap, no more deposits are possible, but interest keeps being added year after year.

An example with interest

You have deposited €11,900 in your LDDS, and €190 of interest arrives on December 31: the balance becomes €12,090. You can no longer deposit anything, even though your deposits never reached €12,000. If you withdraw €500, the balance drops to €11,590 and you can deposit €410 again. A withdrawal frees up room, but only up to the cap.

The cap for a couple and for a family

Each person can hold only one LDDS, and it is always individual: there is no joint LDDS. A single French tax household can have two at most, one for each spouse or civil partner (PACS). A married or civil-partnered couple can therefore hold €24,000 across two LDDS. Children who are still claimed on their parents' tax return cannot open one, even as adults, although they can have a Livret A.

Holding two LDDS in your name is not allowed: if a bank spots a second one, it must close the more recent account and move its balance to a holding account. Before opening one, it is worth checking that an old LDD is not still open at another bank.

Did the LDDS cap change in 2026?

No. It is still €12,000 in November 2026, as it has been since 2012: each semester's announcements concern the rate, not the cap. Together with the Livret A, capped at €22,950, a single person can hold €34,950 in the two tax-free accounts, and a couple €69,900, not counting the LEP for those who qualify.

All three accounts are exempt from income tax and social charges, and their interest is calculated the same way, by half-month. Caps and conditions are those published by service-public.fr, checked on August 1, 2026.

The LDDS rate: 1.7% since August 1, 2026

The LDDS rate is always equal to the Livret A rate. Since August 1, 2026, it has been 1.7% a year, set by the decree of July 28, 2026 for the period running to January 31, 2027. It was 1.5% from February 1 to July 31, 2026. The rate is the same at every bank, and it is net: no tax or charge reduces it.

It is reviewed twice a year, on February 1 and August 1, using a formula set by law. The Banque de France runs the calculation from two averages over the previous six months, inflation excluding tobacco and the short-term money market rate (€STR), then proposes the result to the Economy minister, who decides. For August 1, 2026, the Banque de France used average inflation of 1.52% and an average €STR of 1.95% from January to June 2026, and the formula gave 1.7%.

The LDDS rate since 2020

In 2025, the LDDS therefore paid 3% in January, 2.4% from February to July, then 1.7% from August 1. The 3% held for two years came from the inflation surge of 2022 and 2023, and the cuts that followed tracked falling prices and short-term rates. The next rate will apply from February 1, 2027, based on inflation and the €STR in the second half of 2026. INSEE's provisional figure for October, 3.4% year on year, shows prices rising again, without telling us on its own what the formula will produce.

LDD solidaire, Livret A: same rate

The "LDD solidaire" has no rate of its own: it is the same account at the same rate. A product sold as an LDDS at a different rate is not one. A bank savings account may advertise more for a few months, often through a promotional or "boosted" rate, but it is taxed and its rate drops back when the offer ends.

How much does an LDDS earn?

At 1.7% over a whole year, a full LDDS of €12,000 earns €204 of interest. Because the rate changes during the year, the actual figure differs: in 2026, the same account kept full from January 1 to December 31 will have earned €192, with one month at 1.7%, six months at 1.5% and five months at 1.7%. The interest joins the capital on December 31 and earns interest itself the following year.

That return has to be read next to inflation. According to INSEE, consumer prices rose 3.4% year on year in October 2026 (provisional estimate). At that pace, the €204 of interest on a full LDDS does not make up for the €408 of purchasing power that €12,000 loses in a year. The LDDS keeps your capital intact in euros and available at any time; it does not make it grow.

How half-month interest works

Interest is not calculated day by day, but by whole half-months: from the 1st to the 15th and from the 16th to the end of the month. A deposit made between the 1st and the 15th starts earning on the 16th; made on or after the 16th, it only earns from the 1st of the following month. A withdrawal made between the 1st and the 15th stops earning at the end of the previous month; made on or after the 16th, it stops earning on the 15th.

An example for the current period, at 1.7%: €3,000 deposited on August 10, 2026 earns from August 16, which is nine half-months to December 31 and €19.13 of interest. The same €3,000 deposited on August 17 only earns from September 1: eight half-months, €17. A week's difference cost a whole half-month.

The practical rule follows: deposit just before the 16th or just before the end of the month, and withdraw just after a half-month begins, on the 1st or the 16th. Withdrawing on the 14th loses the interest since the 1st; waiting until the 16th keeps it. To see what a lump sum and regular deposits become over several years, inflation included, the compound interest calculator runs the numbers for your own case.

Opening an LDDS: conditions and steps

There is no income condition and no nationality requirement. You must be tax resident in France and no longer claimed on your parents' tax return: a student or apprentice still claimed by their parents cannot open one. No minimum age is written down, but since minors are almost always claimed, the LDDS is in practice an adult's account. For a child, the options are the Livret A and the Livret Jeune.

The law sets no minimum deposit, but most banks ask for €10 to open the account and €10 per transaction, and the balance cannot fall below €10. You fund your LDDS by transfer from a current account, including one held at another bank since July 1, 2023, by cheque, or in cash at the counter. The account has no payment card and no direct debits: to spend the money, you first transfer it to your current account.

You can close it at any time, free of charge, by simple letter or at a branch, giving the account that will receive the balance. Interest earned since January 1 is then paid on the closing date. Since the rate is identical everywhere, switching banks changes nothing about the return: pick the bank that moves money back to your current account most easily.

LDDS tax: no income tax, no social charges

LDDS interest is exempt from income tax and social charges, and does not have to be declared. The advantage grew in 2026: interest on an ordinary bank savings account is subject to France's flat tax, the prélèvement forfaitaire unique, which rose from 30% to 31.4% on January 1, 2026 when social charges went up to 18.6%.

To earn as much as an LDDS at 1.7% after tax, a bank savings account taxed at 31.4% needs to pay about 2.48% gross. A boosted rate of 3% for two months followed by 1% for the rest of the year comes to 1.33% gross over the year, barely more than 0.9% after tax: less than the LDDS, despite the number on the advert.

The solidarity side: donations to the social economy

That is where the S in LDDS comes from. Every year, your bank must offer you the chance to donate part of your savings to social and solidarity economy enterprises, presenting a list of at least ten organizations. The donation is optional; if you accept, the bank takes it straight from your LDDS. It qualifies for the income tax reduction on donations, the Banque de France notes.

Few savers use it: donations made from LDDS accounts totaled €3.1 million in 2025, against €165 billion held in these accounts. Most of the solidarity really happens through what banks do with the money.

What is LDDS money used for?

Part of the money in LDDS accounts is pooled at the Caisse des dépôts, the state-owned financial institution, along with Livret A savings, and mainly funds social housing: in 2025, this savings fund signed €41.6 billion of new loans, including €22.9 billion for social housing and urban policy. The rest stays with the banks, which must use it to finance small and medium-sized businesses, the social economy and the energy transition, according to service-public.fr.

For the saver, this changes nothing about the return or access: the rate is set by the state, and the money can be withdrawn at any time, with no loss.

LDDS or Livret A: which to fill first?

They have the same rate, the same tax treatment and the same interest calculation: filling one before the other does not change the return by a single euro. The differences lie elsewhere. The Livret A has a cap almost twice as high, €22,950, and is open to children; the LDDS is reserved for people no longer claimed by their parents and carries the solidarity donations.

If you qualify for the LEP, the order changes: it pays 2.5%, 0.8 points more than the other two, with a €10,000 cap. For an eligible household, it is the first account to fill, before the Livret A and the LDDS.

Your LDDS is full: what next?

A full LDDS is good news if it is your emergency fund, the money that covers three to six months of spending. Beyond that, the next euros no longer need to be available overnight, and leaving them in savings accounts costs purchasing power for as long as their rate stays below inflation.

What comes next depends on when you will need the money. Savings accounts first: the LEP if you qualify, the Livret A if it is not full. For a sum you will need in two to eight years, the euro fund of a French life insurance policy, which is also guaranteed. For money that can wait more than eight years, shares through index funds, in a PEA or a life insurance policy. The guide to where to put your money in France in 2026 walks through this method, investment by investment.

Tradoshi's portfolio tracking accepts your savings accounts as declared entries, alongside your synced accounts: you see how much your emergency fund weighs in your total net worth, and the gap between the allocation you aim for and the one you actually have.

This guide is educational and is not personalized investment advice. The rates and caps quoted are those in force in November 2026; the LDDS rate will be reviewed on February 1, 2027.

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